Features

The joke’s on us

Where would radio be without members of the public? Steve Wright would have no
love songs, Elaine Paige no break-a-legs, Ken Bruce no PopMaster, Jamie
Crick no requests and Jeremy Vine, Nicky Campbell and Nick Clegg no phone-in
callers. Radio 4’s Feedback and iPM would not even exist. Nobody would be
listening and nobody (in the case of the BBC) would be paying. All in all,
we members of the public are pretty important people in the radio world,
though you would not guess that from the way the BBC habitually brushes off
thoughtful, perceptive and well-researched complaints from licence-payers —
if it even bothers to acknowledge them.

Six years ago, comedy bosses started to acknowledge public potency. They
launched a topical sketch show called Newsjack (on what was then called
Radio 7 and is now Radio 4 Extra), which opened its doors to amateurs and
helped them learn the craft